Archive of the University of Manchester, Faculty of Technology

Scope and Content

The Faculty of Technology archives comprise a complete set of the minutes of the Board, 1905-1994, plus minutes of the Standing Committee (1964-1994), the Undergraduate courses Committee (1964-1994), the postgraduate committee and postgraduate panel (1964-1994), plus records of the Applications Committee of Senate concerning Faculty students (1916-1982). Also present are minutes of several smaller committees such as the Combined Studies Committee, Faculty Review Committee, and Liberal Studies Committee.

Minutes and indexed are signed unless otherwise stated.

Administrative / Biographical History

The Faculty of Technology was one of the faculties of the University of Manchester. It was established in 1905, and was responsible for all university-level teaching at the Manchester Municipal School (later College) of Technology, the body which later evolved into the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) in 1965.

Faculties had general responsibilities for admissions, curricula, examinations and the award of degrees for the subject areas they supervised. Each Faculty was headed by a Dean, who chaired the Faculty Board. Faculty Boards had powers to recommend regulations for courses of study and the appointment of examiners to the University Senate. The Faculty of Technology was originally responsible for the degrees of B.Sc. (Tech) and the M.Sc. (Tech); Ph.D.s were the responsibility of the General Board of Faculties.

The Faculty of Technology was established as a result of a concordat between the University and Manchester Corporation, which owned the School of Technology, signed on 17 July 1905. The concordat recognised that the School of Technology would be the location for university-level technological education, and its staff would undertake teaching and research in this area. However, the organization of such university-level education would be the responsibility of the University, exercised through the Senate and the newly-created Faculty. The Principal of the School of Technology and the professors of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and applied chemistry were recognized as University staff, with membership of Senate (they were joined by the professor of textile technology in1919). The Principal acted as Dean of Faculty (an arrangement which lasted until 1963; thereafter a senior UMIST academic was appointed Dean). Membership of the Faculty Board also included academic members of the School, who were not recognized as University professors, as well as the Vice-Chancellor and five academic members of the University of Manchester. Faculty meetings were held at the University of Manchester's premises until 1950.

The Faculty of Technology originally comprised the departments of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, sanitary (municipal) engineering, technological chemistry, architecture and building construction, mining, textiles, physics and mathematics (the physics, mechanical engineering and mathematics departments were independent of their counterparts at the University, and were only responsible for teaching in connection with technology degrees). These were later joined by, among others, the departments of building construction, civil engineering, industrial administration (business), biochemistry, computation, control systems, European studies, instrumentation, language and linguistics, metallurgy and materials, ophthalmic optics, paper science, and polymer science.

Over time the Faculty appointed sub-committees for particular areas of work, notably the Undergraduate Courses Committee, and the Postgraduate Committee and Panel. In 1994 the Faculty of Technology was wound up when UMIST became to all intents and purposes an independent university.

Arrangement

Arranged by series as follows:

  • FTE/1 - Minutes of Board
  • FTE/2 - Minutes of Standing Committee
  • FTE/3 - Minutes of Undergraduate Courses Committee
  • FTE/4 - Minutes of Postgraduate Courses Committee & Postgraduate Panel
  • FTE/5 - Records of Applications Committee relating to Faculty students

Access Information

The collection is open to any accredited reader, unless otherwise stated. Some items are currently closed to public inspection, and others may require review before access is granted to researchers.

The collection includes material which is subject to the Data Protection Act 2018. Under the Act 2018 (DPA), The University of Manchester Library (UML) holds the right to process personal data for archiving and research purposes. In accordance with the DPA, UML has made every attempt to ensure that all personal and sensitive personal data has been processed fairly, lawfully and accurately. Users of the archive are expected to comply with the Data Protection Act 2018, and will be required to sign a form acknowledging that they will abide by the requirements of the Act in any further processing of the material by themselves.

Open parts of this collection, and the catalogue descriptions, may contain personal data about living individuals. Some items in this collection may be closed to public inspection in line with the requirements of the DPA. Restrictions/closures of specific items will be indicated in the catalogue.

Conditions Governing Use

The archive is owned by the University of Manchester.

Photocopies and photographic copies of material in the archive can be supplied for private study purposes only, depending on the condition of the documents.

A number of items within the archive remain within copyright under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988; it is the responsibility of users to obtain the copyright holder's permission for reproduction of copyright material for purposes other than research or private study.

Prior written permission must be obtained from the Library for publication or reproduction of any material within the archive. Please contact the Keeper of Manuscripts and Archives, John Rylands University Library, 150 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 3EH.

Custodial History

The archive was transferred to the University Archives in February 2008.

Accruals

No accruals expected.

Related Material

The content of this archive is closely related to the minutes of the governing bodies of UMIST and its predecessors (TGB) and both sets of records may not be consulted for particular topics. Minutes of the University Senate may also contain information relating to the Faculty's activities, and records of the General Board of Faculties include information on Faculty of Technology Ph.D.s. The uncatalogued archives of the UMIST Principal and Registrar contain files on the Faculty of Technology. The University of Manchester Vice-chancellor's archives ontain relavent files on the Faculty to 1965, see VCA/7/172 and VCA/7/568.

Geographical Names